Tonawanda swing bridge.

Great pictures - thanks for sharing!

Great pictures and greater memories. Thanks for both.

Ok, one last bit of detail, I believe the end of this branch may have been at the City of Tonawanda Water Works. This was just South of the current Tops / Martin's supermarket and next to City Hall. This was about 1/2 mile from the bridge. Maybe they had coal or sand delivered by rail ?

I'm pretty sure that the RW & O never went further south than Niagara Falls, this bridge was NYC&HRRR later NYC later NYCS, PC, then Conrail. Never CSX.

Cheers, Kevin

Oh yes, thanks for for the great pictures and the memories. My parents decided to buy a house in Tonawanda in the 1950's because my father was covering a switching job based from that yard in North Tonawanda. A few years later as business declined the job was cut and moved to Kenmore Yard. It's hard to believe how much railroad activity there was back "in the day" compared to what's left now.

Cheers, Kevin

Ok, I just had to add a few more details gleaned from a 1946 NYCRR ETT for the Buffalo Division:

Bridges B18-A and B18-C were limited to 120 ton cars coupled together, 130 ton cars had to be separated by cars of 120 tons or less.

No engines heavier than a B-10 class (0-6-0 switcher 152,700 lbs) allowed over these bridges.

No S (Niagara), J (Hudson), L (Mohawk) or NU (0-8-8-0 mallet) classes allowed on the Tonawanda Branch. By 1946 the Pacifics, and other road classes were gone.

Unless somebody broke the rules you won’t find a photo of a Niagara crossing those bridges.

No mention of an interlocking on bridge B18-A, so the 1966 ETT must have a typo.

The large two track Bascule Bridge currently in use over the canal was a fixed bridge in 1946, so is has not operated in at least 63+ years.

Cheers, Kevin

Right now in Rochester the Hojack swing bridge is being dismantled as a result of not being used since 1995 (Coast Guard's orders as the Genesee River is a navigable waterway and the bridge no longer serves a purpose).

These swing bridges haven't been used since 1995 (the Tonawanda Island RR bridge), and the other swing bridge - in who knows how long. If these are considered navigable rivers - how come the Coast Guard hasn't ordered their removal yet?

Thanks for bringing this thread up. I rode my bike along the bike path that goes next to the swing bridge that sits in Tonawanda Creek. Not the other one going to Tonawanda Island. There is some type of construction or deconstruction going on. Nothing on the bridge that I can tell but the stone block abutments on the south side of the creek. There use to be RR ties that made up the beginning of the crossing. They have all been removed. The stone blocks are there. It also appears that a protective steel guard in front of the blocks has been put in place.

I can't tell for certain what's going on as it was at night I rode by it. I will have to go back and check it out.

I hope they don't tear it down. IMO, it is a symbol of our industrial heritage. We seem to be erasing everything.

Maybe the commercial vessel traffic to the cement plant in Rochester has the Coast Guard's attention, where Tonawanda sees a lot less, & a lot smaller vessel traffic through those bridges. Just a guess.

PIctures of the swing bridge over the Canal. Not the Tonawanda Island swing bridge.

Picture taken from the south side of the Canal looking west. Tonawanda,NY All the RR ties that were on top have been removed. The guard rail that I mentioned above is actually the original wood work. You can see the fill that was bulldozed into the gap.


Standing between the bike path and the abutemnt looking at the swing bridge. The wooden structure on the bridge is showing its age too. Many of them are falling or about to fall into the water. Damn kids climbing on it!


Same abutment but looking east.


This is the abutment on the other side of the canal. Untouched so far.


This picture is taken from a story board that is located at the same place the photographer took the picture. Looking at the left of the photo, you can see a train going over the bridge crossing the canal. This is the mainline bridge before the ROW relocation. Not the swing bridge.


I really love Tonawanda and N. Tonawanda. They out rank Buffalo by a long shot. You won't see photo's like that at the Wharf in strategic locations. I did find one picture where the photographer took a picture while standing on the canal looking towards the city. But the location of this photo is no where near where the photographer took the picture and its also on the wrong side of the canal. Buffalo will never get it right.

There are other, better examples of interperative signage around town. There's excellent photos on display stands on the bike path near the Cargil Pool Elevator, the Union Ship Canal, Mutual Riverfront Park, & Buffalo Riverfest Park showing railroad, shipping, & industry views of these properties from the old times so you can compare them to today.

I forgot about the Riverfest Park. They are indeed very good pictures.

Weird. I'd almost think from looking at that that they were fixing it up in preparation to making the swing bridge work again.

That thing looks like it's about to crumble in the canal & drift out to the Niagara River the next time the ice flows out with the Spring thaw.

Actually, that might be what they're waiting for, it's cheaper that way.

MarcMeoff wrote:OK, here's the last one. This is the bridge over the "Little River" in the 1970s. This was also a popular hang-out/swimming place for my brothers and I in the '50s. The international Paper mill along with RT Jones lumber was in full swing on Tonawanda Island in those days and the train used to go over to switch them at least twice a day. There was a bridge tender in attendence full time, but I only ever saw the bridge open once. A tug tried to push a barge through, but the current was so strong that he couldn't make it. Almost took out the bridge in the process of trying to go up-stream.

I also remember seeing trains go over the bridge over the canal (that started this thread). There was a small yard on the north (NT) side and on the Tonawanda side the tracks mainly served the Continental Can factory. They also occasionally took a carload of coal to a location near what is now the Tonawanda City hall. I always thught that was an incinerator, so I don't know why they needed coal. Maybe it was something else, or maybe the coal helped the grbage burn. Oh well, it was a long time ago. Too bad I never took pictures of that part!

I used to swim at this bridge. There was an awesome current that would whip you down the little river. If you missed the bridge to get out you had make your way towards the shore and climb out near the highway bridge. There was some paper/fiber factory on the island near the bridge and you'd see them moving some train cars around once in awhile.